Retired general warns Tinubu against creation of state police, gives reasons

Retired General Ijioma Nwokoro Ijioma has expressed strong opposition to President Bola Tinubu’s proposal for the creation of state police, warning that it could worsen insecurity in Nigeria.

Speaking in an interview, the former military officer argued that governors would misuse state police to intimidate political opponents and consolidate personal power.

He maintained that Nigeria’s security crisis does not stem from the structure of the federal police, but rather from the way the institution has been weakened over time.

“Who is going to be the person that will issue orders to those state police? Is it the governors that you have today?” he asked.

“I am not in support of state policing. It will not work in Nigeria. That state police will become the thugs for the state governors. Take my word for it.

“Nothing is wrong with the federal police. If the police are constituted and allowed to function the way police have been functioning before, there is nothing absolutely wrong with the police system we have had before.

“When you make the police dysfunctional, then you start looking for state police. And when you now introduce state police, it becomes a frank incest.

“Then the governors will pocket them and use them to do their own bidding. And we start another thing altogether.

“Then, we start the cry all over again. I will advise Mr. President not to toe that line.”